District and School Strategic Plans
At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, Barrow County School System rolled out the new Strategic Navigation Plan 2021-2026.
This plan is intended to ensure all stakeholders - including the school board, district staff, principals, teachers, students, parents, and community members - are working toward a shared set of goals and priorities.
The strategic plan is built on a foundation of FOUR PRIORITY AREAS
Click the image below to review the Strategic Plan PDF or you can expand the + sections below to learn more.
Priority: Create a robust, developmentally appropriate, simplified curriculum that is accessible to teachers, students, parents, and families.
GOAL: Communicate the importance of early learning and its role in the growth, development, readiness, and overall academic success of young children.
ACTION STEPS:
- Provide a safe, nurturing, and challenging learning environment for Pre-K students by establishing an early learning center with age-appropriate indoor and outdoor learning equipment.
- Provide professional learning for Pre-K Staff on the Frog Street EXCEL Pre-K curriculum & collaborate with Bright from the Start Pre-K Specialist for additional training in literacy and math.
- Collaborate with community partners, including Barrow Book Partnership, medical, dental, social, and behavioral services to provide a range of coordinated services for young learners.
- Add additional Pre-K and preschool special education classes to manage program growth.
- Increase kindergarten readiness by exploring ways to increase literacy and math skills in children ages 5 and younger before they enter school.
GOAL: Promote leadership development among teachers and leaders by providing capacity-building opportunities for those who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to improve achievement and outcomes for all students.
ACTION STEPS:
- Strengthen the induction programs and professional learning opportunities to help teachers and leaders excel as instructional leaders.
- Implement a curriculum-based instructional program for potential and current leaders that focuses on Leader Keys Performance Standards.
- Provide fieldwork, internships, and field experiences as part of the professional learning for aspiring leaders.
- Develop partnerships with local universities to align programs of study with district professional learning initiatives.
GOAL: Implement a K-12 vertically and horizontally aligned curriculum that prepares students for academic and career success.
ACTION STEPS:
- Adopt and implement an elementary mathematics curriculum and provide resources to support it.
- Implement elementary, middle, and high school financial literacy programs to provide students with the knowledge and skills to manage financial resources effectively.
- Provide access to career awareness, career exploration, career preparation, and career training to ensure that students develop an understanding of their strengths, talents, and interests in order to create individualized plans that prepare them for the future.
- Research and implement a system that enables teachers to deliver curriculum and monitor and analyze student performance.
- Utilize data teams and professional learning communities (PLCs) to plan instruction, review assessment data, and analyze student work samples.
- Challenge student use of critical thinking and problem solving through the implementation of innovative programming and instructional strategies.
GOAL: Implement system and school improvement processes that result in improved instructional practice and high levels of student academic achievement.
ACTION STEPS:
- Establish an Instructional Council made up of teachers and other practitioners to:
- Assist with curriculum resource selection.
- Participate in decisions for curriculum guidelines and priorities.
- Implement processes to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the approved curriculum and its capacity to produce desired student outcomes.
- Review and make recommendations based on instructional rounds data.
- Assist with the creation and implementation of a comprehensive professional learning plan that includes an evaluation component.
- Implement a systemwide improvement team to review, evaluate, and make recommendations for improving school improvement processes.
- Establish a systemwide graduation team that will research, identify, implement, and evaluate effective practices
GOAL: Ensure all students have access to a safe and positive learning environment resulting in healthy social development, increased academic outcomes, and improved graduation rates.
ACTION STEPS:
- Increase opportunities for student participation in service-learning and charitable outreach.
- Research successful restorative practice programs and implementation guides.
- Increase opportunities for student participation in restorative practices to facilitate social-emotional learning and development.
- Relocate the alternative school program to provide increased access and participation in dual enrollment opportunities offered through Lanier Technical College.
- Develop community partnerships to increase opportunities for students to engage in community service and apprenticeships and to establish a network of services and resources for students.
- Implement a bullying prevention program.
- Provide age-appropriate social-emotional learning that addresses the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) five overarching competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills, and responsible decision-making.
- Monitor the implementation, progress, and impact of programs designed to improve social and academic functioning by way of fostering positive learning environments.
Attract, employ, develop and retain a highly effective diverse staff who provide exceptional educational opportunities for all students.
GOAL: Cultivate collaborative partnerships with colleges, universities, and community leaders to attract a diverse and highly qualified staff.
ACTION STEPS:
- Develop Student Teacher Induction Programs
- UGA pipeline to hire student teachers as classroom substitutes
- GSU pipeline for Computer Science educators
- Work with local industry to ensure pathways are supportive of local needs
- Work with local industry and colleges to provide a pipeline of support for areas of high need
- Connect high school Career Technical and Agricultural Education Teachers and Community Leaders to provide education for elementary and middle school teachers so they are aware of future opportunities
- Recruit highly qualified teaching staff based on a variety of demographics
- Develop recruitment teams to address the need for diverse staffing
- Ambassador Program or similar
- Community participants
GOAL: Identify and support future educators through an innovative Grow our Own program
ACTION STEPS:
- Build the two Teacher Pathway Programs – Teaching as a Profession or Educators Rising
- Opportunities for teachers from elementary to high school to identify, influence, and encourage students to consider the teaching field
- Signing bonuses and scholarship opportunities for program participants
- Celebrate current alumni and engage them in the recruitment of future teachers
GOAL: Retain employees by providing a competitive compensation package, a safe and supportive work environment, and opportunities for growth
ACTION STEPS:
- Build Pipelines for Leadership
- Innovative Teacher Leader program
- Aspiring Administrator program
- Utilize digital learning days
- Continue targeted assessment of staff salaries and supplements
GOAL: Develop teachers and leaders through targeted job-embedded professional learning
ACTION STEPS:
- Designate and protect Professional Learning days
- Designated Professional Learning for all staff (certified and classified) including Technology and Social-Emotional Learning
- Provide time and resources to follow-up on Professional Learning Training
- Utilize Content-Specific Specialists
- Build capacity within each building
Establish BCSS as a destination for work and school to draw families, staff, and industry to Barrow County for our excellent school system.
GOAL: Improve consistency and transparency of communication
ACTION STEPS:
- Develop a public data dashboard
- Improve internal communication
- Increase consistency of school communication with its families, partners, and community
- Explore additional channels for communication
- Ensure all communication is accessible by parents
- Build enthusiasm and awareness of our innovative learning options available to students
GOAL: Increase community and business engagement in our district and schools
ACTION STEPS:
- Increase opportunities to invite our community into our schools
- Build a BCSS Ambassador Program
- Connect students and staff to community leaders
- Reconnect with BCSS Alumni
GOAL: Increase family engagement for all BCSS families in our schools and programs
ACTION STEPS:
- Create a virtual Parent Resource Center
- Connect with local minority populations
- Reward everyone that contributes to student success
- Host town hall meetings to stimulate two-way conversation
GOAL: Create a culture and diversity action plan
ACTION STEPS:
- Assess and address organizational culture
- Focus on cultural diversity and equity
- Develop Learner, Teacher, Leader, and Parent Profiles
Strategically manage system growth and ensure equitable distribution of resources by maintaining and improving processes for operational excellence, customer service, and shared accountability.
GOAL: Plan for, develop, and maintain quality buildings and grounds to meet the evolving needs of our community and schools
ACTION STEPS:
- Continue to update and follow our 5-year Department of Education Local Facilities Plan as well as plans for locally funded projects
- Complete a system guide spec to create consistency in building design and operation
- Continue to build and maintain an asset records database
- Develop preventive maintenance plan for each building trade
GOAL: Leverage technology and digital tools efficiently and effectively
ACTION STEPS:
- Ensure technology functionality and mission relevance by implementing and funding a 5-year technology refresh cycle
- Annually review and maintain the district 5-year technology plan with District Leadership engagement
- Continue to collaborate with partners in industry, government, and higher education to research and pilot best practices of effectively integrating emerging technologies in ways that are both scalable and sustainable
GOAL: Secure and allocate resources to maintain essential programs and services that ensure District quality
ACTION STEPS:
- Demonstrate fiscal responsibility through thoughtful and consistent oversight of budget development
- Hire a grant writer
- Make sustainable financial decisions which put as much money as close to the classroom as possible and lead to the best decisions and resources for students
- Promote financial transparency and awareness for all internal and external stakeholders
- Assess and improve our zero-based budgeting approach that requires each expense to be reevaluated annually to justify its existence and alignment with the district’s mission statement
School Strategic Plans
As part of the Charter System, each school is also required to have a Strategic Plan. This plan is developed and approved by the School Governance Team. You can view each school's plan by clicking on the name below.
Middle Schools
This site provides information using PDF, visit this link to download the Adobe Acrobat Reader DC software.